Mike Fawson

Once the light improves here in the UK (at the moment where I live it's just one dark cloudy wet day after another) then I'll get some decent photos and post them. Mike

Has any more information been discovered on the subject of Condor WBs and Joe have you been able to get any pics of Dr. Hamelman's Condor WB? The reason I ask is - I was sifting through and checking/measuring/weighing my type 1 WB's recently and found that 1 of them has very different characteristics to the others; specifically the characteristics conform to those described by William Hamelman in his book "German Wound Badge" i.e. the Swaz being - high with sharply defined 90 degree edges and "flush" with the surface of the helmet, also the measurements of the WB are 99.9 % identical to the Condor WB described in the book. Thus to my questions: 1. Are the details described in Dr. William Hamelmans book considered to be correct? 2. Are there any other specific details/characteristics of a true Condor WB that "define"/separate them from the 1st type WB's? Mike

Hello All, It appears that everywhere I turn for information on this one that I hit a "brick wall", has anyone got any ideas on places/organisations that might help further? Here's hopeing, Mike

Raz, As yet not much more progress; the Von Luckner society are not aware of what the medal was for - they are pretty certain that it is related to the Count - the coat of arms is his familys. I need to do some furthr digging through archives and reference books, however this is not proving particularly easy as it is hard to get hold of some of the reference material I need. Bob - thanks for your comments and the info. about the Count. Mike

Bill, I totally agree with Don's comments. Basically the whole setup is wrong; pin, hinge and clasp, it totally lacks definition on front and rear, the helmet and swaz are incorrect. Mike

Hello Kev, Thanks for the additional information. After using various techniques to enhance the manufacturer details on the reverse, I have come to the conclusion that it probably was manufactured by Friedrich Linden of Ludenscheid. Currently I'm in contact with the von Luckner society in Halle, they are hopefull that they can make an identification of the medal/badge. There are a couple of other items that came with this medal/badge - one is a skull wax seal stamp and the other is a badge with a hand holding a sword - as attached. Cheers, Mike

Kev and Naxos, Here goes - Naxos - the motto under the crest is "jungs holt fast" - the u has an umlaut. Attached is a closeup of the motto. Kev - the maker mark on the rear reads (from what I can make out) - "Ges. Gesch. Friedh. Linrh. Ludensheid" - some of the characters are not at all clear. Mike

Kevin, thanks for your help. I'm not sure what the medal/badge is made from, it feels like Tombak but it could be zinc. I've done alot of research on the "sea devil" and am yet to find this medal/badge. Attached is a pic of the rear. Mike

I'm not sure where to post this, it's not (IMHO) military related but here goes. Can anyone identify the below medal/badge? From my initial research it is related to Count Felix Graf von Luckner (AKA the "sea devil"), it may be related to the circumnavigation? Thanks for any help, Mike

The case definitely looks original - the marks seem to match up pretty well to the SWB. Mike

That's a beauty!

Thanks for your response Rick. This one only came into my possession a couple of weeks ago.

Hello, what are your opinions of this Imperial Navy Silver WB? The main part of the badge is not magnetic, however the pin/hinge/clasp are.

Don, I understand your apprehension; I've never seen a first type with a backplate and I've seen a lot of first types, that said - more research need to be done on this one. Mike

Don, that was exactly my intention A thread is now on WAF

Eric, with your permission I'll post this WB on another forum where I'm fairly sure there we'll get some further responses. Also, you might want to try posting it in the Wound Badges forum here.

I have never seen a type 1 with that type of reverse configuration i.e. with the back plate soldered in. The front of the badge looks good to me as does the overall finnish.

Thanks for the pics without the flash - that is one nice silver Assmann

Try a bit of vaseline on it

Alot of these "hollow golds" seem to be coming out the woodwork recently, this one looks like it has a post war gold paint job on a BWB - however it could just be the pics; were the pics taken with flash? If they were can you submit some without flash?

If you want to sell the Bronze drivers badge then my valuation of this is ?25 to ?30.

Nice type 1 BWB thumbsup. The blob on the catch is a bit strange, it does look like a repair